Corpus-Paul

[Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>]

--- maertens <maertens AT waika9.com> wrote:

> I disagree with
> Loren when she connnects Rom 2:12 with the judgement
> of Gentiles. . . I
> believe (following Stulmacher) that there is a
> difference between perishing
> and being judged. The fate of each is thus presented
> in connection with
> their relationship to the law. For those who are not
> under the Law, i.e.
> non-Jews, there is no future. For those who have the
> law, i.e. the Jews,
> their futur depends on the judgement. I doubt that
> Paul agreed with this
> position.  
> 
(I always seem to end up having gender-identity crises
on internet lists. But I'm in touch with my feminine
side, so I guess there's no harm done in mistaking me
for a "she".)

Anyway, Philip, I'll be anxious to read your
forthcoming article. But I read Rom. 2:1-16
differently. Rom. 2:1-16, I think, makes plain that
Paul retained the Jewish belief in reward and
punishment according to the law. "God will repay
everyone according to their deeds" (2:6). Reward will
be given to those who have done good, punishment to
those who have done bad -- "to the Jew first and also
the Greek" (2:7-10). For "God shows no partiality"
(2:11). Gentiles "who have sinned apart from the law"
will be punished no less than Jews "who have sinned
under the law" (2:12). It might be hazardous to make
too much of a distinction between "Gentiles who will
perish" and "Jews who will be judged". To me, these
are different ways of saying the same thing -- that
there will be impartial punishment (but not
condemnation) for Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles cannot
escape judgment anymore than Jews can, because, while
they do not have the Torah, they are nonetheless bound
by minimal Torah standards (whether or not they know
or acknowledge it), the Noahide commandments, "the law
written on their hearts to which their consciences
bear witness" (2:15). As much as it galls and chafes
many of us to admit it, Paul believed there would be
reward and punishment according to the law (whether
Mosaic or Noahide): "The doers of the law will be
justified" (2:13).

I think it was Ed Sanders who once distinguished
between salvation and reward, in attempting to
reconcile Rom. 2:13 with what Paul says elsewhere
about justification. While Paul usually speaks about
"justification" in terms of the eternal category of
salvation ("saved by faith, condemned otherwise"), in
Rom. 2:13 he uses "justification" in terms of the
temporal category of reward ("rewarded by doing the
law, punished by not doing the law". It isn't hard to
believe that Paul retained the basic Jewish belief in
a just God who would reward and punish people
according to deeds. But in any case, I tend to doubt
there's much difference between the "will perish" for
Gentiles and "will be judged" for Jews in Rom. 2:12. 

Best,

Loren Rosson III,
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com

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